Kasaragod: For nearly a month after a truck rammed her Maruti Alto, Sabira P lay in an intensive care unit in Mangaluru, fighting for her life. Her two sons, seven-year-old Muhammad Afreedi and two-year-old Muhammad Arfas, died in the crash on January 24, 2015. Sabira learnt that she had lost both her children only about two weeks later.

Sabira, now 38, never fully recovered from the accident. Her relatives say she remains deeply traumatised, has withdrawn from people and barely speaks to anyone. She also continues to struggle to walk properly.

As she battled to recover, the police investigation added to her ordeal. Kasaragod's Bekal police registered a case against her, holding her responsible for the crash and the deaths of her sons. It filed a charge sheet accusing her of rash driving and causing death by negligence. Although a magistrate court acquitted her in 2024, the police continued to maintain their original version of the accident.

More than 11 years after the crash, the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Kasaragod has found that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the truck driver, Iddhinabba, a native of Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district. In a ruling that went against the police's version, the tribunal awarded Sabira and her husband, Ayoob, a combined compensation of around ₹35 lakh, including interest, in two cases relating to her injuries and the deaths of their children, said her advocate, P K Chandrasekhar. "The judgment is significant because the police stuck to their original version even after a magistrate court acquitted her. This gave the truck's insurance company grounds to contest the compensation claim for years," he said.

A case built on the truck driver's complaint
On the afternoon of January 24, 2015, Sabira was driving her Maruti Alto from Kasaragod towards her home in Padana when it collided with a truck near Navodaya School at Periya. The Mangaluru-registered truck was going towards Kasaragod.

According to Adv Chandrasekhar, the car was on its correct side of the two-lane highway when the lorry crossed over and hit it.

He said the police moved both vehicles to the station without documenting their positions on the road or recording the accident scene. Later, by midnight, they registered a case against Sabira based on the complaint of the truck driver, Iddhinabba.

By then, Sabira had been admitted to Mangaluru's Unity Hospital. Her relatives were dealing with the deaths of the two children and her critical condition.

The trial began only on September 16, 2023, more than eight years after the accident. On May 6, 2024, the Hosdurg Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II acquitted Sabira after the two eyewitnesses produced by the prosecution said they had not seen the accident.

Adv Chandrasekhar said Sabira had also filed a complaint against the truck driver, alleging that he had driven negligently and caused the collision. Though Bekal police registered a separate case against him in 2018, they did not change their report. "If they did, the officer who investigated the first case would be in trouble," he said.

Six years in the compensation tribunal
In 2021, Sabira and Ayoob approached the MACT in Kasaragod, filing separate petitions seeking compensation for her injuries and the deaths of their children. The cases were later transferred to the Additional District Court.

The proceedings continued for years. New India Insurance Company, which had insured the truck, contested the claims, arguing that it was not liable to pay compensation because the police charge sheet had named Sabira as the accused.

But Sabira produced four eyewitnesses in support of her case: herself, two autorickshaw drivers who witnessed the accident, and another witness. They testified that the truck was at fault on the highway.

The tribunal, presided over by Additional Tribunal Judge Kumari Rajitha T H, held that it would go by the evidence before it, and dismissed the police report, which had already fallen apart before the magistrate court.

And for the first time, the tribunal held the accident had occurred due to Iddhinabba's negligence, and ordered the payment of compensation.

The truck driver and the vehicle owner did not appear before the tribunal to give evidence. The insurance company alone contested the claims.

"The driver did not appear even before the magistrate despite a warrant being issued," said Adv Chandrasekhar.

The combined award of around ₹35 lakh, including interest from the dates the petitions were filed, covers Sabira's injuries and the deaths of her children. Around ₹10 lakh is earmarked exclusively for Sabira, her advocate said.

She had approached the MACT seeking compensation. But the tribunal gave her something more: a finding that the truck driver's negligence caused the crash that killed her two sons, despite the police having blamed her.